Green infrastructure can play a pivotal role in COVID19 recovery as nature-based solutions contribute to improved public health, climate adaptation, job creation and economic activity. The greatest drivers of green roof and wall development is supportive green infrastructure policy and the organization of advocacy groups.

For this virtual event, GRHC will bring together policymakers and advocates from across North America who have lead green infrastructure policy programs and campaigns with the goal of making it easier for jurisdictions to implement similar policies and providing a framework that will support organizations in their advocacy efforts.

Green infrastructure implementation through incentives or supportive policy provides city, state and federal government with shovel-ready projects that can speed up COVID19 recovery and create healthier communities for everyone.

Approved for 3 LU|HSW credits from AIA, ASLA, and GRP credits and 2 APLD CEU credits.

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Agenda

Time	Speaker	Topic
1:00	Peter Lowitt, Director/Land Use Administrator, Devens Enterprise Commission	Introductory Remarks
1:10	Steven Peck, Founder & President, Greens Roofs for Healthy Cities	Green Roof Policy Overview To illustrate the importance of Green Infrastructure Policy, an overview of green roof policy making, necessary tools, and best practices in policy-making/advocacy will be discussed to set the stage for case studies provided throughout the event.
1:30	Shayna Stott, Environmental Planner, City of Toronto	Lessons learned from Toronto's Green Roof By-Law Toronto was the first city in North America to adopt a green roof bylaw (2007). This by-law requires new developments that are greater than 2000m² in gross floor area to include a green roof. This precedent setting by-law has allowed for over 700 green roofs to be built in Toronto! Learn more about the lessons learned from this important GI policy.
1:50	Julienne Bautista, Branch Chief, District of Columbia’s Stormwater and Green Area plan review team	Lessons learned from D.C.'s successful Green Infrastructure policies The District of Columbia uses two innovative regulations to promote the installation and maintenance of Green Roofs. Within the first quarter of our fiscal year, almost 400,000 square feet of green roof has been installed. We are expecting to meet our target of over 500,000 square feet. Adapting to the multiple regulations, developers are seeing the environmental and quality of life benefits from green roofs. The industry is changing and adapting to retaining more stormwater or working through structural constraints. DOEE must work and promote these Green Roof innovations within our regulatory framework.
2:10	Monica Garay, Senior Legislative Assistant, The Honorable Nydia M. Velázquez, U.S. House of Representatives	Public School Green Rooftop Program in NYC To discuss the Public School Green Rooftop Program, first of a kind legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that dedicates federal funding for design, installation and maintenance of green roofs on schools across the United States with a focus on schools in communities with limited green space. This proposed legislation will help thousands of students remain safe in learning environments during COVID and contribute to addressing environmental injustices. Low-income communities predominantly have fewer green spaces for children to access and studies have shown nature has a positive impact on a child’s development. The proposed Green School Rooftop Program is a demonstration of what post-pandemic policy should be: addressing social inequity while creating green jobs and bolstering community resilience.
2:30	Julia Hillengas, Executive Director, Power Corps PHL	Connecting the Environment, the Economy, & Equity using Workforce Development PowerCorpsPHL is an AmeriCorps workforce development initiative designed to support environmental stewardship projects and further the City of Philadelphia’s youth violence prevention and workforce development priorities. PowerCorpsPHL engages out-of-school or out-of-work 18- to 30-year-olds in an immersive, paid 4- to 24-month program that results in connection to living wage jobs in energy, green infrastructure, and community-based careers. Julia will provide an overview of the PowerCorpsPHL model, share how it has evolved over time, and critical components needed for similar initiatives nationwide.
2:50	Q&A
3:10	Break
3:20	Melissa Ludtke,Green Roofs Team Co-Lead, Mothers Out Front, Cambridge MA	Growing a Green Roof Policy at the Local Level After the Cambridge, MA Chapter of Mothers Out Front selected green roofs as its focused project in 2018, Melissa joined a small, committed team of volunteers who for two years researched, educated, and communicated about the benefits of green roofs, along with visiting green roofs. She worked with two others on the team to revise the standing green roofs ordinance for the City of Cambridge; the prior ordinance did little more than define what a green roof was and encourage developers to include them, which none had done. The revised ordinance mandates the inclusion of vegetative or biosolar roofs on new development and on significant rehabs of greater than 20,000 square feet. Ludtke will review how the MOF Green Roofs team drew to its campaign a broad coalition of supporters including public officials, allied organizations, affordable housing developers, local climate activists, and residents.
3:40	Elizabeth Hart-Morris, Executive Director & Amy Chomowicz, Secretary, Green Roof info Think-Tank (GRiT)	GRiT's integral role in advancing green roof policy in Portland, Oregon This presentation traces the evolution of Portland OR’s green roof experience, from a single green roof constructed in 1996 to the adoption of a green roof requirement in 2019. How the Portland green roof landscape evolved over time, how the entrée of the Green Roof information Think-tank influenced decision makers, and how the persuasive power of the community culminated in the requirement will be discussed.
4:00	Karen Sands, Director of Planning, Research and Sustainability, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD)	Green Infrastructure Policy Evolution at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District This presentation will cover -- from a timeline perspective -- the evolution of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's green infrastructure policies. Green infrastructure at MMSD grew from the need to handle precipitation-driven issues that this regional unit of government didn't directly create, but at the downstream end does own! MMSD does not have a consent decree or order, but now has a discharge permit requirement to implement green infrastructure. While all stories are local, this policy story has many lessons learned that may apply widely.
4:20		Q&A